Neither Can Live While the Other Survives
by Walks-in-Shadows
Summary: An alternative ending for Deathly Hallows that ends nearly the same way. Warnings for OoC?Snape, Harry-Stu, character death, pseudo-chan, and lemon. Don't like, don't read. AU that takes place during the Battle of Hogwarts.


Neither Can Live While the Other Survives.

After destroying Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem in the inferno that the Room of Requirement had become, Harry Potter parted from his two best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, and strode purposefully towards the dungeons of Hogwarts. Although he knew that the wizard he was seeking, Professor Severus Snape, had apparently escaped from the school by jumping from a window in the headmaster's study, Harry had a strong suspicion that this was more to escape Voldemort than it was to escape justice, that the man was probably hiding out in his former haunts so he could continue to aid the Order of the Phoenix wherever possible. Not long after reaching the dungeons, Harry discovered that his supposition was correct.

"Well, Potter," came the deep, rich tones of the headmaster. "Looking for trouble again, I see."

"Actually, sir," Harry explained, "I was looking for _you_. Were you wearing an invisibility cloak?"

"Like yourself? No, I have no need of such artefacts. Albus taught me his method for remaining unseen in return for a certain service I performed for him."

"When you euthanised him, you mean?"

Severus looked at the younger wizard, the surprise he felt not revealed by his expression. "I am glad that you have worked it out at last, Potter. Now, why were you seeking me?"

"Well, sir - Severus - I finally know what the prophecy means, and I want a chance to experience what I never will otherwise."

"And what is that, pray tell?"

Harry hung his head for a moment, then brought it back up with a light of determination in his eyes.

"Will you make love to me?" he asked.

Severus was taken aback for just a second before he asked, "First of all, do you even love me? Second, how do you know if I'm gay?"

"Well," Harry replied, "to answer your second question, I just know. Also, I've loved you for a couple of years now. I mean yes, at first it was just a schoolboy crush that I developed after I learned that you aren't all bad, and of course it was destroyed by your subsequent actions. But then I figured out exactly what you'd done and why, and the feelings I'd had returned. I love you and I want to make love with you. Will you let me?"

The headmaster was so stunned by these revelations that all he could do was to stand in utter silence. Harry loved him. Harry wanted to have sex with him. There was a possibility that the love he had harboured since that day about two years before was going to be returned in the most expressive form he knew.

- FLASHBACK -

Severus re-entered his office and looked around in slight bewilderment. Where had the Potter boy gone? Then the man walked towards the pensieve on top of his desk and looked inside, immediately becoming incandescent with rage at what he saw inside. Potter had actually seen fit to intrude in one of the worst memories of his schooldays, and was probably laughing as the fifteen-year-old Severus was hung by his ankles, revealing the underwear that was the best the abused teen had. The boy would have to be taught that such an invasion of his teacher's privacy would not be tolerated in the slightest. Thinking these things, the potions professor entered the pensieve.

"Having fun?" As he said this, Severus grabbed Potter's upper arm and hauled him bodily from the pensieve, his anger making him less gentle than he would be otherwise. Then, once he and Potter were stood in the office again, the older wizard continued.

"So," he said, struggling to push down his fury enough that he could speak without shouting. "_So_… been enjoying yourself, Potter?"

"N-no," the Potter boy had the temerity to lie as he fought to free his arm from his potions master's grasp.

"Amusing man, your father, wasn't he?" Severus continued.

"No." This time, the denial was less hesitant and spoken with more conviction.

Surprised, Severus released Potter's arm, allowing the boy to rub some feeling back into it as he then said, "I looked in your pensieve because I wanted to see my father in something other than a photograph, and at first I thought he was brilliant. Popular, admired, happy, all the things I want to be. But when I saw him cast a spell on someone else for a reason other than self-defence, all I felt was disgust and betrayal. You'd done nothing to make him do that, and he only had the excuse that he had nothing better to do, so I'd like to apologise on his behalf, and I'd also like to apologise for sticking my nose where it didn't belong. I'm sorry, sir."

After saying this, Potter - no, Harry - turned to leave, and Severus recovered his wits enough to say, "Wait, Harry."

Harry turned back from the door and returned to the desk before quietly asking, "What is it, Sir?"

"It seems that I owe you an apology, also. I should never have assumed that you were anything like your father just because your appearance is so similar."

"Thank you, sir. And I'll understand if you don't want to continue my occlumency lessons any more."

"Actually, I think we _should_ continue these sessions."

"Really? What's the point? It's not like I'm learning anything, and I don't even understand why I have to have them!" Harry cried out, angry and frustrated.

Severus was shocked. "Do you mean to say that the senile old coot has not seen fit to tell you of the importance attached to your learning occlumency?"

"No he hasn't, sir. Why is it so important?" Harry replied, trying hard not to laugh at what his potions professor had just called Albus Dumbledore, arguably the greatest wizard of the age.

"It seems that, because of your involvement in the rescue of Arthur Weasley, the Dark Lord has become aware of a mind link between you and himself, and might exploit that link to get something he wants, or even put you in a position that he can get rid of you. Because he is talented at occlumency himself, he will never again reveal to you what his true plans are, and because he is a natural legilimens, he is able to invade others' minds quite easily. Now, why are you so reluctant to continue your lessons?"

Severus could read the astonished expression the boy had on his face before he explained about the tiredness and pain he experienced after each session, making it hard for him to sleep, and sometimes giving him nightmares that led to more visions.

"I see," the older wizard replied. "Well, if you come back tomorrow at the same time, I will be sure to have some potions that will help."

Harry grimaced at the idea of swallowing foul tasting liquids, but said, "Thank you, sir. Good night."

"Good night, Harry," Severus responded, then followed Harry from the room with his eyes, feeling the first faint stirrings of attraction. If only the boy was a man already!

- End of Flashback -

The headmaster was startled out of his reminiscing by the feeling of warm, dry lips pressed on his, but he was soon kissing back, thrusting his tongue into the younger wizard's mouth and losing himself in the writhing together of the two muscles.

Finally, the two men broke off the kiss and Harry asked, "Why do they call it 'French kissing,' Severus?"

"Je ne sais pas pourquoi, mon chéri," Severus replied in a low growl that sent shivers down his young lover's spine.

"Oh, just hearing that's made me hard," Harry groaned.

"Well, we'll just have to see if we can't cure that condition. Come along."

The older wizard guided the younger down the corridor until they reached the door to Severus' private rooms, which he unlocked with a spell.

"If I'd known it was that easy…" Harry grinned.

"You're fortunate that you didn't try it," the older man retorted drily. "My door is heavily warded against break-in attempts, and those wards recognise only myself. Not even Albus could enter my rooms unless I was within or he was with me."

The two entered the sitting room, then as soon as the door was closed, went back to kissing until Severus broke it off to ask, "What did you mean earlier? About not having another chance to experience lovemaking, I mean?"

"It's because of the prophecy, Severus. There's a part of it that says, 'Neither can live while the other survives.' That means both me and You-Know-Who have to die, so I have only two options. Either I kill him then myself, or you kill me and then him. Because he thinks you're his spy, he'd never suspect that you would off him."

"But the prophecy states that you have to kill the Dark Lord."

"And I will be killing him either way, it's just that the second method involves you as my proxy. So, will you do this for me?"

Severus hesitated until he saw the utter determination in Harry's eyes, then tears filled his own as he replied, "Yes, I will."

"Merci beaucoup," the younger wizard gratefully said as he pulled the other man towards the couch and down onto it, somehow managing to keep up a light rain of kisses up and down Severus' face and neck as he did so.

A few minutes later, Severus picked Harry up as they were once again kissing mouth to mouth, and carried him into the bedroom, carefully depositing him on the bed and stripping him of his clothes. Then he stood up and started to slowly remove his own as the younger man impatiently watched him, telling him to get on with it.

"All in good time. You know that titillation heightens the experience."

"Too much, sometimes," Harry retorted as he flicked his wand and cast a spell to instantly remove his lover's clothes. "I don't want to come before we even get down to business."

"Ah, the impatience of youth," Severus said in a mysterious tone as he lay on the bed.

"Is preferable to the foolishness of age," Harry moaned as the other wizard trailed kisses from his neck to one of his nipples, then nibbled lightly on it.

After he had licked and sucked both of Harry's nipples to hardened peaks, Severus kissed his way down to the younger wizard's navel which he spent some time licking, then finally kissed further still, to his cock, engulfing it in his mouth as Harry groaned and bucked his hips slightly against the older man's restraining hands. Severus then sucked hard as he brought his lips up Harry's penis, his tongue pressing firmly against the vein on its underside as he did so, and swirled the moist muscle against his lover's glans before plunging his head back down. It only took a few repetitions of this before Harry was coming into Severus' oral cavity with a loud shout of gratification.

"It's nearly time to take things further," Severus said after swallowing the mouthful Harry had left him with, "but I just need to get something first."

The older wizard got up and went through a door Harry hadn't noticed before, soon coming back with a glass of water.

"What's that for, Severus?"

"This will make things easier on both of us. Believe me, you don't want me to enter you dry."

"But can't you just use a lubrication spell or something?"

"A lubrication charm is essential, Harry, but like all magic, it won't work with nothing. Lubricant has to be created from something, and water is the best substance for that."

Having said this, Severus placed the glass on the bedside cabinet, then lay between his young lover's legs, raising them up so he could lick and suck at his anus, thrusting his tongue through it once it was sufficiently relaxed. Then he cast a lubrication charm on his fingers before inserting one and moving it around for a while, then inserting a second. A little while after inserting a third finger and moving it with the others, the older man cast the lubrication charm on his own cock and Harry's arsehole, then took his fingers away and replaced them with something larger.

As soon as Harry felt the head of Severus' penis against his entrance, he bucked, and the movement caused it to pop through the loosened ring of muscle. Feeling the sudden burn, the younger wizard squeezed his eyes tight shut and held himself very, very still. A few moments more, then Harry started to push back against Severus, signifying his readiness for his lover to continue. Severus spent the next minute rocking back and forth, moving himself ever deeper within Harry, noting when he brushed against his prostate. As the two started to move against each other in the ancient dance, they kissed, tongue battling tongue, and Severus ensured he made contact with his lover's seminal gland whenever possible until, with another loud shout, Harry came, his anus contracting and releasing, almost forcing Severus' climax out of him. Feeling the flood of wet heat inside of him, the young man shuddered, groaning against his lover's mouth before falling back, sated, spent, and in a haze of post-coital bliss.

It was then that Severus wandlessly accioed his wand and pointed it at his lover's left temple, silently apologising as he did so, then he whispered the darkest curse he knew.

"Avada kedavra."

Harry had no sooner collapsed with a look of horrified shock on his lifeless face than Severus' Dark Mark started to burn.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Harry woke up in a strange white landscape - if it could be called such - and looked around. Nothing but blankness. He realised he was naked, so touched his face and was startled to discover that not only did he not have his glasses on, he was able to see somewhat better than if he had been wearing them. After cautiously sitting up, the young man wished he had some clothes, and no sooner had he thought this then robes materialised a short distance away, and he went over to them and pulled them on.

Walking around for some minutes led Harry to discover a malformed baby with raw looking skin. As he approached the child, simultaneously sympathetic and repulsed, Albus Dumbledore greeted him to explain the current situation before allowing him to see his parents for the first time since their deaths.

After a rather tearful reunion, Harry was given the option of either staying with his true family or returning to the only one he had ever known, and the Boy-Who-Lived knew that this would not be an easy decision to make.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Voldemort looked up in expectation as his spy hastened towards him.

"Ah, Severus," he hissed, a slight sibilance still shading his speech. "I cannot feel the link between myself and Potter. Has something occurred?"

"I saw him on my way here, my lord. He is dead."

"Dead? How did that happen, Severus, hmm?"

"I would think that the rape he obviously endured had a lot to do with it. Whoever committed it should have been more careful, they know he was yours alone to kill."

"Show me Potter as you last saw him," the Dark Lord ordered before shouting, "Legilimens!"

Severus' mind spewed forth the image of a naked and freshly ravished Harry lying on the floor in a corridor of the Slytherin dungeons. His face, shoulders, and neck were covered in fresh bruises and bite marks, and semen stained with blood - thanks to a quick partial transformation spell - was leaking from his anus.

As soon as Voldemort saw the expression on the face of the fallen Boy-Who-Lived, he knew immediately what had killed him. "You fool, the one who finished Potter used the killing curse! Now why did you lie to me, Severus?"

"I did not lie, my lord" Severus said smoothly. "I admit I saw the look of horror on Potter's face, but put it down to his reaction at being raped. I did not look too closely due to my haste in reaching your side after your summons."

"I see. You are forgiven since the fault is partially mine."

"Thank you, my lord," Severus grovelled, bowing low, but when he rose up again, he had his wand in his hand, pointed straight at the Dark Lord. However, he had no opportunity to get more than the first word of the killing curse out than Voldemort's familiar, Nagini, sank her fangs into him, injecting him with her fatal venom to prevent his attack on her beloved human.

Sinking to his knees before he collapsed entirely, Severus saw his vision start to dim, and time seemed to alter strangely as he saw Voldemort place the Sorting Hat on Neville Longbottom's head and set it on fire before the younger wizard took it back off and pulled the sword of Godric Gryffindor from it, then chopped off Nagini's head, causing Voldemort to give a keening wail of pain and anguish.

It was just then that a different voice called out, "Accio Elder Wand!" then "Avada kedavra!" forever ending one of the greatest threats the Wizarding World had ever known.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

As soon as he was certain that the killing curse he had cast had been effective, Harry Potter, now free of the bruises that had been magically inflicted on him just after his death, started scanning the area to see if he could do anything for anyone there. He had no sooner started, however, than Neville ran up to him.

"Harry, Nagini bit him. What shall we do?"

Harry looked in the direction that Neville was pointing and felt his heart almost stop as he saw what the other wizard had. Severus! The older man was lying on his belly on the ground, his face turned up and his eyes half-closed, every painful breath rattling in and out of him.

"Tend to the others, Neville. There's not a lot we can do for Professor Snape."

Having said this, Harry walked over to his dying lover and knelt beside him, turning him over and placing his head on his lap. He cleaned Severus' wounds as best he could, then he opened up his mind and his heart to give a great, heartfelt shout.

"FAWKES! ARE YOU THERE? PLEASE COME, WE _NEED_ YOU!"

After what felt like forever, Harry heard a whoosh as if from a faraway backdraught, then a musical trilling caught his ear just before a large gold and red bird flew into view. However, as soon as the phoenix saw who needed him, he started to fly away again.

"He did it at Albus's request, Fawkes. It wasn't murder. Please help him. I love him, surely you can understand that."

Fawkes could indeed understand it. He had loved his human just as much as Harry loved Severus, though in a different way. So, much against his better judgement, he perched himself on the younger wizard so his head was above the wounds on the elder and started crying, his tears falling onto the torn flesh and healing it without scars as they worked their way further inside and neutralised the poison so Severus' body could excrete it without harm.

As soon as the phoenix had finished his magical healing, Harry said, "Thank you for giving us a chance at happiness, Fawkes. I wish you as much wherever you go next."

Fawkes trilled again, then flew up and blazed into nothingness with another faint explosive whoosh. Just then, Severus reached up and pulled his lover's head down to capture his lips with his own, and Harry experienced a joyfulness and contentment that would never fade. It was the start of something beautiful in a world that would be free of fear for the majority of its inhabitants, and with the new influence he would be sure to have, maybe the Saviour of the Wizarding World could make it free of persecution for the rest. Hermione would be sure to like that.

Now, if only Harry could get his godfather to accept his new relationship with his lifelong rival.

Copyright © 2011 Romersa's Protégé. Individuals and groups are free to copy and share this work for non-commercial purposes. All other rights reserved.


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